Left to right: drummer D.J. Fontana, Scotty Moore, Bill Black & Elvis, Las Vegas, May 4 1956.Bill Black, the upright bass player on Elvis Presley's immortal Sun recordings and beyond, and on Presley's early shows, died 45 years ago yesterday - 1965 - at the shockingly young age of 39, from a brain tumour.
Bill Black and guitarist Scotty Moore worked with Elvis till September 1957 and Black continued to record with him until 1958, becoming one of the first bass players in rock to use a Fender Precision Bass, on Presley's 1958 classic 'Jailhouse Rock'. He formed Bill Black's Combo the following year and had several hits, including a revival of 'Don't Be Cruel'. In 1964 they became the opening act for the Beatles on their first tour of America after an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show - though by this time Bill himself was too ill to go on the road with his group. Paul McCartney now owns Bill's stand-up bass. OK, none of this has anything directly to do with Bob Dylan. Except of course that without that Sun studio, where Bob eventually got down and kissed the floor in homage...
The first time I met Paul McCartney was at his studio in Sussex. Standing in the corner was an upright bass. I commented on it, saying, "I didn't know you played one of those." Paul grabbed hold of it and immediately did 'That's All Right.'. "It was Bill Black's bass, the one he played on all those Elvis records, Linda bought it for me for Christmas." He let me touch it. . .
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